The Heat is on - Newday 2007

It was not about the weather, though the sun did shine more than usual at this year’s Newday.  The temperature went up as young people joined together for worship, teaching and outreach in Derby. Melanie Crane (Bishop’s Stortford) describes events at Newday 2007. 


Every morning Stef Liston (Revelation Church, London) talked to us about the big picture and the reality of Babylon in this generation (worth downloading every session). It was no nonsense, full of fire preaching and we loved it. Joel Virgo (CCK, Brighton) tackled honouring your parents and prayer which was superb, download this too. The Smyth family came all the way from Johannesburg and blessed us big time. We got a glimpse of their family life and PJ spoke to us about being saved by grace and living by grace. Our Newfrontiers family is awesome!  

The night that Adrian Holloway (ChristChurch London) preached the gospel was electric. He used clips from TV show Prison Break alongside powerful props on stage and God turned up. In one night 275 young people said yes to following Jesus and became Christians. As they ran forward at the end to give their lives to Jesus you began to understand how a nation and the nations of the world can be changed.

Every day, hundreds of teenagers went into Derby. Some were working on social action projects and others were in the town centre talking to people and giving invitations for Alpha. All were doing the work of the evangelist;  a beautiful sight.  

One of the more inventive activities at this year’s event was ‘pegging’. This involved hundreds of pegs being passed from person to person with a Bible verse to look up and a challenge to ‘peg’ someone else. Another feature, especially for the girls, was the Pink Bar; a girly hang out including GHD’s, candyfloss, haircuts, interviews, jean jewelling, and nail painting. It was a genius idea; well done Sarah and the team!

On the last morning I watched teenagers empty their pockets into the collection bucket. God has their heart and he clearly has their wallets! The offering total at Newday was a staggering £89,000 with still more IOU’s flooding in.


This Sunday at my local church we’re baptising a mum and her son, two brothers and one of my friends who gave her life to Jesus on an Alpha Course. The three guys all came to Newday and met Jesus. Isaac became a Christian, was filled with the Holy Spirit and decided to get baptised water, all in one night.

Newday is not just a youth event; it is a life-changing week that if taken hold of will spread and change our world.